CAL's Dr. Kaufman CLARIFIES Bar Bahlul... and a few others

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"Let's see what CAL calls you,
GaMLa dear. " 

The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon entry for GaMLa... CAMEL or ROPE ( ?)

gml N02

gml, gmlʾ (gmel, gamlā) n.m./f. camel; beam

female camel may also be explicitly gmlh

  1 camel Com. --(a)  dromedary Syr. 

  2 large curved(?) wooden beam Syr. --(a) a plank bridge made of such beams JBA. --(b) as a large measure of length, i.e. "yard" or the like Syr. 

  3 large insect : see s.v. gmln adj. Syr. 

  4 as a part of the name of other animals . --(a)   camelopard, i.e. giraffe Syr. --(b): millipede Syr.

   For the double gender see Bh Gr² 11(13ff.)

See also s.v. gml "camel driver."

In the NT proverbial saying (Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25) about a camel and the eye of a needle, the native Syriac lexical tradition seems to be convinced that our lemma is to be interpreted as a large rope used on ships. See the statement of BarBahlul (500:19): 

[Readers: Please note well the Aramaic dialects abbreviated in bold blue type above. 

• JBA stands for Jewish Babylonian.  
• Take careful note how the COMMON ARAMAIC ( the Aramaic of the common man) and the 
• SYRIAC ( the Aramaic of the New Covenant and Biblical liturgies)  dialects define and use GaMLa in every day speech. Keep this in mind through the end of this post. ] 

The NOTE in red, above, was added to CAL's entry on GaMLa during the week of January 7th, 2013. 

Since a few --- a very limited few --- of  the Greek manuscripts of the 9th and 10th century have KAM-I-LON ( rope ) in them, an effort has been made to LOCATE the Aramaic roots of GaMLa (camel) being used as ROPE.  

Thus, a bona fide Aramaic language authority was  found in Dr. Steve Kaufman  to help unravel this mystery. He is  Professor of Bible and Cognate Literature Emeritus, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio, who edits the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon ( CAL ).  

The CAL identifies 30 different dialects in the Aramaic language literature, including Syriac and Christian Palestinian Aramaic. 

Here are the core features of those conversations.

 To Dr. Kaufman at CAL  … Jan 3, 2013

Dear Mr. Kaufman...

I am researching and trying to verify information I have come across while dealing with an Aramaic English translation of verses Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25.

Specifically, this information I am trying to verify states that GaMLa means CAMEL but GaMaLah means ROPE... and the difference in the word comes through the vowel pointings.  

The Aramaic texts on Dukhrana have either NO vowel pointings or else the vowel pointings are GaMLa, in these three verses in question. [ I have spent hours checking that word in each verse in every Aramaic text at Dukhrana. ]

Mr. Lars Lindgren of Dukhrana recommended you to me as a source to help answer my question about GaMLa and GaMaLah, specifically, the information found  in the lexicon by Bar Bahlul at 500:19:1691-9. 

This same reference page is linked in CAL for all three of those verses.

Since I do this work very slowly and try to be as thorough as I can, I usually check the reference works listed in links at the bottom of the CAL entry for words I am researching.... just to make certain I have a thorough understanding of the words in question along with the variety of meanings and usages. 

None [ i.e., of the ones in English / SJH ] have ROPE listed for GaMLa  and the CAL definitions simply do not include ANY indication that GaMLa could possibly mean ROPE.

Also, I cannot find the word GaMaLah ( ROPE) anywhere in the Aramaic resources.  

But, perhaps I am missing something that others can clearly see ? 

  

The CAL listing for GaMLa from the various Aramaic dialects has a variety of definitions, but NONE of them can be construed to mean rope or cable. 

Indeed, the only Aramaic word listed for rope or cable is CHaBL , as per Dukhrana.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

steve kaufman to me	Jan 3

I do not know where you got your information that with a change of vowels the meaning might be "rope".  

There is only a single word.  

Bar Bahlul does say that earlier interpreters in his tradition take the meaning of the word "camel" in the proverb to be " a thick rope used for securing ships". 

Frankly, I prefer the solution followed by some moderns that claims that the "eye of the needle" was a well known narrow passageway through which camels could not easily go.

If you wish to translate the Syriac Biblical text, the best way simply might be to put "camel" in quotation marks.  That would be most true to the Syriac interpretive tradition itself.

In any case, I thank you for your query.  I have added a note to the lexical entry discussing this further.  It will be online after the next update...

~ ~ ~ 

MAY I QUOTE YOU ?

Sister Judith	Jan 9
to steve

Dear Mr. Kaufman...

I have seen your additional notation to GaMLA on the CAL.

Let me ask you another couple of questions:

Is Bar Bahlul the only reference work which is able to be found that has ROPE for GaMLA ?
I noticed that you did NOT ADD the  ROPE definition to the regular definitions, though, so I thought there might be a reason for omitting it  ....such as perhaps the CAL standard requires the usage of a certain word to be found in X-number of  writings, literature, etc. ?

Now, on my blog, I will be doing a posting re: the ROPE side of the issue. I would like to quote you, but I will do so ONLY if you give me permission. [ If you have a title other than "scholar", I would appreciate your permission to use that too, if you will tell me what it is :>) . ]....

~  ~  ~

steve kaufman	Jan 10
to me

I am Prof. of Bible and Cognate Literature Emeritus, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati

Your question is apt.  

The reason I do not give it as a meaning is the same that a modern lexicographer of English would not say that English "camel" is a rope because of the Synoptics' passage. 

It is only in exegetical work, not attested as an actual word in the language. 

I give the exegetical tradition in the note and think that is sufficient.

You may quote me.

 ~ ~ ~

Sister Judith	Jan 15 (12 days ago)
to steve

Dear Dr. Kaufman... Thank you for your response. I think that your note is quite sufficient also.

I want to make no mistakes in what I understand you saying, though. Please CORRECT me where I am wrong. [ It will save me head-aches later :>)  ! ]

• 1.You are saying here  that GaMLa could  possibly be translated as ROPE, 
  but it is not found so used in language OR LITERATURE  ( of that era or any era ?)

• 2. In other words, that usage [ GaMLa = ROPE ] is found only as a definition that "stretches" the limits of the word and only those digging in the roots ( exegetical) could find it.

• 3. Or... are you saying that usage only exists in theory, but not in actual practice ?

In my studies, I have found exactly 2 verses in the Aramaic text of the New Covenant where cords, cable, or rope is actually used. BOTH places have the word CHaBL... much like the English "cable."  

One place, John 2:15 CHaBL is used for cords of rope in a whip where YESHUA+ cleansed the Temple of the money-changers.   

The other place is in Acts 27:32, where The Apostle Paul is on a ship about to flounder and the soldiers cut the ropes to the life-boats.   

In NEITHER of these verses, however,  is GaMLa used as rope,  even in the one directly talking about roping used on a ship.

The interesting thing is that the Apostle Luke wrote the Acts verse as well as the verse in Luke 18:25, where GaMLa is used as camel, not rope. 

Well, enough said. Thank you for your help; how I appreciate your sharing of your scholarship!

Hoping to hear from you soon.

~ ~ ~

steve kaufman	Jan 15 (12 days ago)
to me

no -- what I am saying is that the word "camel" in that text was explained by some exegetes as referring to a thick rope used on boats.  

Otherwise it is not found in any actual texts.

~  ~  ~

Sister Judith	Jan 15 (12 days ago)		>
to steve

So.... where did they get it ? How could they derive ROPE from GaMLa ?? ( Begging your patience with my questions !)

SrJH + + +

~  ~  ~

steve kaufman	Jan 16 (11 days ago)
to me

The exegetes derive it from the context.

It has nothing to do with Aramaic per se.  

~ ~ ~

~  ~  ~ End of Conversation via email ~ ~ ~ 

Dr. Kaufman can verify this conversation. Only a few spelling errors have been changed. / SJH  + + +

BAR BAHLUL Enters the Ring... via Mr. Ring

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"So... Bar Bahlul  said you are a ROPE ...
a SHIP'S ROPE, to be exact ? " 

Mr. Steven Ring, an Aramaic scholar well-known on the internet, graciously translated Bar Bahlul's Aramaic Lexicon entry for readers. 

Bar Bahlul's Aramaic Lexicon found on Dukhrana gives the ONLY Aramaic hint that GaMLa could possibly have ever been  translated to be ROPE instead of CAMEL. The reference is 500:19, 1691:9 as found at Matthew 19:24. 

Below, highlighted, are Mr. Ring's copy-righted insights plus translation. 

Tie that camel up with a rope!

The controversy surrounding the Syriac gospel reading found in Mt19v24, Mk10v25 & Lk18v25.

Mar Aphrahat writing in the early 4th  century quotes this verse (Wright 1869, page 392, line 16), so a reading with the Syriac word gamlā was likely also in Tatian's 2nd  century Diatessaron Syriac gospel harmony. 

The 10th  century east-Syrian Syro-Arabic lexicon of Hassan bar Bahlul (Duval 1901, columns 500, 501) reports that gamlā can mean a camel, or the thick rope used to tie up boats.

He writes about several different definitions for this word, but I [ Steven Ring]  translate only those of interest:

500.20: '[According to] Cyril [of Alexandria] gamlā he calls the thick rope boats are tied up with.'

...

gap

...

501.01: 'And in the Greek language, Qamelos

501.02: it is called. Others say that gamlā is

501.03: what our Lord said in the worshipful gospel, that

501.04: the gamlā is thin to pass through the eye of a needle

501.05: for he said that gamlā was threaded.'

The same is reported by Toma Audo in his east-Syrian Syro-Arabic lexicon called the Treasury of the Syriac Language, (Audo 1897, pages 145, 146):

146.1.6: 'Again the thick rope of boats.'

And by Carl Brockelmann in his Lexicon Syriacum, (Brockelmann 1928, page 120) where he mentions that several earlier scholars defined gamlā as 'rudens navis' = nautical rope.

Hence to extract the most probable meaning of this saying in the gospel, it can and probably should be translated:

‘…it is easier for a ship’s rope to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom…’

The misunderstanding in the Greek text which translates gamlā as ‘camel’ is due to the ambiguity of the Syriac word gamlā. The usual English reading translated from the Greek NT with the comic notion of threading a camel through the eye of a needle, is evidence that the Greek gospels are a translation of Syriac textual originals.

Hence, this verse contains evidence both for the originality of the Peshiṭta Syriac gospel text-type and also that Tatian constructed his gospel harmony from a Syriac gospel source. 

References:

Audo, Thoma 1897. ‘Treasury of the Syriac language’ 2 volumes. Dominican Press, Mosul.

Brockelmann, Carl 1928. 'Lexicon syriacum' 2nd Ed. Max Niemeyer, Halle.

Duval, Rubens 1901. 'Lexicon syriacum auctore Hassano bar Bahlule voces syriacas græcasque cum glossis syriacis et arabicis complectens; e pluribus codicibus edidit et notulis instruxit' 3 volumes, Paris.

Wright, William 1869 ‘The homilies of Aphraates the Persian sage’ Williams & Norgate, London & Edinburgh

© Steven Ring 2013 

Sister Judith Hannah extends her great appreciation for the scholarly work and gracious attitude of some of the scholars who have been so helpful in this research, especially Mr. Lars Lindgren at Dukhrana   and Mr. Steven Ring.

[ But, we are not finished yet.... :>)  ]

Origen's "CROOKED ANIMAL" ... The GaMLA

Origen Against Celsus clarifies the question of CAMEL vs ROPE.



Photo by flickr.com



Origen lived between AD 185 to 230 or 254...  again, long before the development of the Peshitta.  He lived and taught in Alexandria, but spent the last quarter of his life in Palestine and Caesarea !  Origen was a brilliant apologist for CHRISTIANITY. 

In this brief selection, Origen is arguing against the accusation by Celsus that YESHUA+ HA MASHIYACH+ lifted Matthew 19:24 from Plato's writings.

Please note:  the word CAMEL was NOT THE FOCUS of the argument; it was merely expounded upon to prove Origen's point in his defense of The LORD'S words and intent. 

This work is found in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4, Origen Against Celsus, Book 6, Chapter 16, page 580, hard copy, second printing, June 1995,   American Edition, Hendrickson Publishers INC., Peabody, Massachusetts. 

The blog posting is from Master Christian Library, version 8, pages 1148-1149, [ same reference as in the ANF volume listed above ],  2000 AGES software, Rio, WI, www.ageslibrary.com.  

Origen Against Celsus... Book 6.... Chapter 16... in its entirety ( color,  caps, brackets, sizing, and highlight added by SJH )

"In the next place, with regard to the declaration of JESUS against rich men, when HE+ said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,"

Celsus alleges that this saying manifestly proceeded from Plato, and that JESUS perverted the words of the philosopher, which were, that "it was impossible to be distinguished for goodness, and at the same time for riches."

Now who is there that is capable of giving even moderate attention to affairs — not merely among the believers on JESUS, but among the rest of mankind — that would not laugh at Celsus, on hearing that JESUS, Who+ was born and brought up among the Jews, and was supposed to be the son of Joseph the carpenter,

and Who+ had not studied literature — not merely that of the Greeks, but not even that of the Hebrews — as the truth-loving Scriptures testify regarding HIM+, had read Plato,

and [ JESUS ] being pleased with the opinion he [ Plato ] expressed regarding rich men, to the effect that "it was impossible to be distinguished for goodness and riches at the same time," had perverted this,

and changed it into, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!"

Now, if Celsus had not perused the Gospels in a spirit of hatred and dislike, but had been imbued with a love of truth, he would have turned his attention to the point why a camel — that one of animals which, as regards its physical structure, is crooked — was chosen as an object of comparison with a rich man, and what signification the "narrow eye of a needle" had for him who saw that "strait and narrow was the way that leadeth unto life;

and to this point also, that this animal. according to the law, is described as "unclean," having one element of acceptability, viz. that it ruminates, but one of condemnation, viz., that it does not divide the hoof.

He would have inquired, moreover, how often the camel was adduced as an object of comparison in the sacred Scriptures, and in reference to what objects, that he might thus ascertain the meaning of the LOGOS+ concerning

is to be wholly condemned.

For even a common individual would not thus indiscriminately have praised the poor, many of whom lead most wicked lives. But on this point we have said enough."

   

CAMELS in CLEMENT ... Mark 10:25

CLEMENT of ALEXANDRIA

... AD 153 -- 193 or 217 ...

wrote an admonishment to the Rich,

following the Words of

YESHUA+ HA MASHYIACH+

in Mark 10:25.

Photo from flickr.com

Note this: Clement was not concerning himself with "camels" nor "rope," but with the Truth of the Holy Words. His words were written long before the Peshitta was written. 

"4.

May the Savior then grant to us that, having begun the subject from this  we may contribute to the brethren what is true, and suitable, and aving, first touching the hope itself, and, second, touching the access to the hope. He indeed grants to those who beg, and teaches those who ask, and dissipates ignorance and dispels despair, by introducing again the same words about the rich, which become their own interpreters and infallible expounders.

For there is nothing like listening again to the very same statements, which till now in the Gospels were distressing you, hearing them as you did without examination, and erroneously through puerility: "And going forth into the way, one approached and kneeled, saying, Good

Master, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit everlasting life?

And Jesus saith, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and thy mother.

And he answering saith to Him, All these have I observed.

And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him, and said, One thing thou lackest. If thou wouldest be perfect, sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me.

And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he was rich, having great possessions.

And Jesus looked round about, and saith to His disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

More easily shall a camel enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man into the kingdom of God.

And they were astonished out of measure, and said, Who then can be saved? And He, looking upon them, said, What is impossible with men is possible with God. For with God all things are possible.

Peter began to say to Him, Lo, we have left all and followed Thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall leave what is his own, parents, and brethren, and possessions, for My sake and the Gospel’s, shall receive an hundred-fold now in this world, lands, and possessions, and house, and brethren, with persecutions; and in the world to come is life everlasting. But many that are first shall be last, and the last first."

5.

These things are written in the Gospel according to Mark; and in all the rest correspondingly; although perchance the expressions vary slightly in each, yet all show identical agreement in meaning.

But well knowing that the Savior teaches nothing in a merely human way, but teaches all things to His own with divine and mystic wisdom, we must not listen to His utterances carnally; but with due investigation and intelligence must search out and learn the meaning hidden in them.  ....   "

This quote from Clement of Alexandria is from his work, "Who is the Rich Man Who Shall Be Saved ? "   Volume 2, Ante-Nicene Fathers, page 592, sections 4 and 5 .

  

CAMELS in Pre-Nicene Writings.... Clement on Mt. 19:24

Photo from Wysinfo.com 

This is an excerpt from Clement of Alexandria from his writing:

Who is the Rich Man

that Shall be Saved?  

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 591, Section 2

He quotes Matthew 19:24 in this writing.

Note that his quote is not in defense of "camel" versus "rope", but rather in defense of Our LORD Who+ calls all to HIMSELF+, to be freed of both poverty and riches... and the love of or fear of serving Mammona.

Also note that Clement of Alexandria, who "had followed Tatian to the East ... after Justin and Irenaeus, is to be reckoned as the founder of Christian literature,"  according to the introduction of his writing, page 165 of ANF Vol. 2 (or page 1 of the introduction to his writings.)

Clement lived between AD 153 -  193 or 217... and would have been quoting Scriptures from BEFORE THE WRITING OF THE PESHITTA.  

Clement of Alexandria says:

"Perhaps the reason of salvation appearing more difficult to the rich than to poor men, is not single but manifold.

For some, merely hearing, and that in an off-hand way, the utterance of the SAVIOR, "that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven," despair of themselves as not destined to live, surrender all to the world, cling to the present life as if it alone was left to them,

And so diverge more from the way to the life to come, no longer inquiring either whom the LORD and MASTER+ calls rich, or how that which is impossible to man becomes possible to GOD.

But others rightly and adequately comprehend this, but attaching slight importance to the works which tend to Salvation, do not make the requisite preparation for attaining to the objects of their hope.

And I affirm both of these things of the rich who have learned both the SAVIOR'S+ power and HIS+ glorious salvation. "

( More to come.)